He tried not to care all that much. He really did. But something about you wouldn't leave his mind, even two days after he'd encountered you.
You, a completely random person who'd happened to be wondering around in the middle of the night. You, the person he'd swooped in to save from a mugger who'd lured you into the alleyway after pretending to need help.
Your arms had been full, of course. One forearm carried the weight of at least five plastic bags while your other held a gray travel create. You'd come too close to the man before realizing it had all been a set up. You screamed, trying to get away when you dropped the kennel.
Raph had jumped down, and while the kennel had split into two halves, you were easily able to scoop up the black cat that was too stunned from the fall to run away. Holding the cat in a tight grip to your chest, you did your best to avoid the small altercation happening right in front of you. You backed up against the wall, waiting for something, anything to happen.
The man eventually ran off, tail between his legs, leaving you and this giant mutant alone.
When he turned, finally, to face you, you hadn't realized your grip had loosened, and the cat you'd been holding flopped from your grasp and took off in a mad dash out of the alley.
You screamed again, running forwards and desperately trying to catch it. When it disappeared around the corner you'd dropped to your knees, already in tears just by the sound of your voice begging your cat to come back to you.
Yeah.
Raph was definitely not cut out for this.
He awkwardly stood there, trying to decide what to do. Right when he decided on vanishing out of thin air, you'd turned to look over your shoulder. You desperately pointed the direction your cat went.
"Could you- please?"
He already knew you'd been asking for him to chase your cat down. "Her name is Piper, she's just a kitten." His eyes squinted at you as you stood. You seemed to understand that the request had irritated him. "G-gotcha." You'd said, then you took off.
Raph had shook his head, scoffing as if the encounter had been all that ridiculous. But he still picked up the create, and he still decided to make sure you didn't get into any more trouble.
He watched you go home, and once he'd seen you enter your apartment through your open window, though you were dissolved into tears, he left.
Now he couldn't stop thinking about it.
You and that damn cat.
He threw down his weights, not finishing his rep. Running a hand over his face he questioned if he was really going to try and do this, then geared up and left the lair all together.
So he knew several things.
One, the cat he was looking for was black. Definitely hard to find in the dark, the only time he left the lair.
Two, the collar it wore was pink. It was a reflective collar if he remembered right, so she should have a reflection if he found her in the right scenario.
Three, her name was Piper, and she was in fact, a girl.
So the chase was on.
—————
The first night, somehow by luck, he'd found her in an alleyway munching on half a fish sandwich someone had thrown away.
Raph rolled his shoulders and smirked.
It was too easy.
Maybe he was just that good.
He landed on the ground silently. He crept up to the cat, but once he'd gotten close enough to grab her up and kennel her, her head had swiveled around and with a shriek, she'd bolted, nails clawing against the pavement.
